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Joshua
LEADING WHEREVER YOU ARE
You may be starting this study on leadership wondering if it’s really for
you. We so often define leaders as those charismatic people up front,
the ones with all the authority . . . and it’s hard to see ourselves in that.
I’ve been there. And honestly, I didn’t really mean to be a leader—it just
kind of happened. I was in student-leadership through middle school,
high school, and college. In my twenties, I had a job where people worked
under me and sought me for decisions and encouragement. And now
I’m a parent of these little humans who need me to lead their hearts well
and teach so many things that sometimes it makes my head spin.
Maybe you lead people in school, in church, or in the workplace.
Perhaps you’re like me and have children whose lives need to be
guided in a variety of ways. Whatever stage you’re in and in whatever
capacity you lead, you are leading—and I bet you want to do it in a
way that impacts those around you.
As I look back, I’ve seen how God has orchestrated my leadership
growth. Little by little, He’s given me more responsibility as I’ve grown
in passion and understanding. I haven’t always led well—in fact, I still
don’t always lead well. But I’ve found that leaning on His guidance and
the wisdom of leaders who have gone before me is a crucial part of
the growth process.
Although there are countless books out there on leadership (and my
shelves are filled with them!), my favorite place to learn about how to
lead (and how not to lead) is in the Bible. And the life of one man in
particular in the Old Testament is brimming with leadership lessons.
After Moses died, Joshua took over leading the nation of Israel.
Can you imagine being the new guy after years of leadership under a
beloved and wise man? And yet, under Joshua’s leadership, millions of
Jews finally left forty years of wandering in the wilderness and settled
down in the richness of a land that God had promised them.
Wherever we’re leading and whatever our leadership looks like, we can
learn from this friend of God and how he led—what he did well and how
he could have done better. We grow as leaders when we learn from
both mistakes and victories.
Ready to get started? Let's get to it!
Take joy,